It’s official! Frank and Jeanne Moore Wild Steelhead Sanctuary created on the North Umpqua, as part of large, bipartisan public lands bill.

The Frank and Jeanne Moore Steelhead Sanctuary is now a reality, after passing the House and Senate and earning the President’s signature, as part of a large, bipartisan public lands bill, the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act.

Wild Salmon Center worked for many years with conservation partners and local advocates, and Oregon’s congressional delegation to advance this designation.

Please join fishermen and Oregonians in thanking Senators Wyden and Merkley and Representatives DeFazio and Schrader for carrying legislation to honor the Moores — two living Oregon conservation legends — and to improve wild steelhead management on the North Umpqua River.

The Frank and Jeanne Moore Wild Steelhead Sanctuary on Oregon’s North Umpqua River designates approximately 100,000 acres of public lands in some of the best remaining wild steelhead spawning areas in the Pacific Northwest. It pairs a legendary river – treasured by Oregonians and frequented by thousands of foreign visitors yearly – with two inspirational conservationists and American heroes.

Frank and Jeanne Moore bind the people of the North Umpqua to its natural bounty. As stewards of the North Umpqua, Frank and Jeanne embody the resilience and grace of the landscape itself.

In World War II, Frank Moore stormed the beaches of Normandy along with 150,000 troops during the D-Day Allied invasion and was awarded the Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor for his bravery. He returned home after the war, started a family, and pursued his passion of fishing on the winding rivers in Oregon.

For 20 years, Frank and Jeanne ran the legendary Steamboat Inn on the banks of the North Umpqua. Frank served on the State of Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission from 1971 to 1974. He has been recognized for his conservation work with the National Wildlife Federation Conservationist of the Year award, the Wild Steelhead Coalition Conservation Award; and his 2010 induction into the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame.

Jeanne Moore is a self-taught botanical expert who has spent her life identifying the myriad native plant species in the Steamboat Creek watershed.

Their life together is documented in the film Mending the Line, and Frank was the subject of an OPB Field Guide special.

The sanctuary proposal elevates steelhead as a management priority on high conservation value lands and waters in the Steamboat Creek watershed. The watershed provides over 50 river and stream miles of some of the most important habitat in the region for summer and winter steelhead, spring Chinook, coho salmon, rainbow trout and other native species (see map).

It serves as one of the few remaining cold water refuges for summer steelhead, which migrate from the main North Umpqua River to the cooler waters of Steamboat and Canton creeks in the summer months and hold in specific pools until the fall rains arrive. The Big Bend Pool of Steamboat Creek is one of the few places in the world where people can easily view hundreds of summer steelhead that use the pool as a refuge from warmer stream temperatures.